Tangled Yarn
by RainshadeTheWolf
Summary: He didn't know the medical term -it was long and hard to pronounce- but he knew it would cost a lot of money for the surgery to fix it. He knew,being 13, there was little he could do to raise the money to fix it. Dipper Pines knew a lot of things, but most of all was that his sister, his twin, his better half, was sick and no one was doing anything about it. WARNING: OC's


He didn't know the exact medical term -it was long and hard to pronounce- but he knew it would cost a lot of money for the surgery to fix it. Judging by past experiences, no one would come to his rescue. He knew his parents were sad, but they had always felt a little disconnected. He knew, as a 13 year old boy, there was little he could do to raise the money to fix it. He knew his whole family, even distant relatives, were poor.

Dipper Pines knew a lot of things, but the thing that stood out the most was that his sister, his twin, his better half, was sick- very sick- and no one was doing anything about it.

He decided that if no one else was going to do anything, that left him. Mabel spent all her time in a hospital bed, so to give her something to do Dipper brought her yarn and her knitting supplies. When those ran out, he spent his allowance on more. He began doing odd jobs for money, spending all of it on colorful yarn for his bedridden twin. All except the fare for the bus that took Dipper to his sister.

Teachers and friends, and family he barely remembered offered their condolences. Several times, Dipper bumped into Mabel's friends at her bedside. ONe of these instances, Mabel had been asleep. Her friend, the snooty one -Melissa- had told him "you can't come in while we're visiting." She hadn't known that DIpper was her friend's twin. The other three girls, Cindy Lora and Denise, who had accompanied Melissa watched Dipper, gauging his reaction.

"I can come in if I want."

When Melissa tried to stop him physically, he had noe-to-gently shoved her out of the way. When they began shouting, Mabel almost woke up. Lora took Melissa out of the room, to explain who Dipper was. Melissa came back in, her face alight with shame. After apologizing profusely, she came and sat down by Dipper. Even after the other three girls left, Melissa sat with Dipper as he did his homework.

"You must love her very much." Melissa had said softly.

"More than you can imagine. More than life. There's nothing I wouldn't do to save her, if I only knew how to help."

Melissa had turned to look at him.

"What does she need?"

"Money. Lots of it."

"What are you going to do?"

Dipper turned to face his sleeping sister. She did that a lot lately. Sleep.

"I don't know."

That was how their friendship began. It was different from any other friendship he had had before. They didn't always get along. Melissa -Mel- was blunt, and spoke her mind. Dipper usually didn't, he let people walk all over him. Melissa called him a 'spineless coward whose good for absolutely nothing.'

He didn't expect anything from her, and she expected very little from him. To say he was a little surprised when she stood up for him _-I couldn't let my best friend's little brother get hurt, right?-_ was to say the sun was a little hot, when those bullies began picking on her, he decided ' _Oh, what the heck. We're friends, right?'_ and stood up to help her. He remembered because that incident because it had cemented their friendship.

He had come around the corner, only to hear "Turned into a lesbian now, Melissa? All for that sick girl? Or is it her brother?" from one of the girls crowding around his friend. They all laughed, but it was a cruel sound. He couldn't see his friend's face, but knew it was flushed with anger. He was a little angry too, and moved to stop the blatant bullying.

"That's rape, you know. Since the sick girl can't stop you. But maybe she's into that? I heard she's a real weirdo!" The same voice -a blond girl with blue eyes and a mean face- said. Dipper searched for her name.

Courtney.

Melissa angrily took a step forward, shoving Courtney. A tall jock, presumably Courtney's boyfriend, shoved Melissa once, twice, three times until she fell. Unfair retaliation, by dipper's standards. He had been moving down the hall quickly, but now he broke into a run.

"Why don't you go join the sicko in the hospital? Or better yet, why don't you both just kill yourselves!" The boyfriend -Trent- jeered. Dipper's run turned into a full sprint as he slammed into Trent. Sitting atop the larger boy, Dipper began punching him. Trent rolled so he was towering over Dipper and landed one, solid hit to Dipper's nose.

Dipper kicked him in the stomach, and leaped lightly to his feet while Trent curled up, clutching his stomach. Half crouched, Dipper watched the other jocks angrily approach. One swung at dipper, but he hadn't been to forced to self defense classes with Mabel for nothing. He sidestepped the punch, yanking the jock by his wrist and sending him tumbling to the floor. As another one stepped up, a tall blond in the back strode forward and yanked him back by the collar of his shirt.

"That's enough. He was only defending his friend. You should all be ashamed of yourselves."

Under his piercing green gaze, many athletes wilted. Mumbling 'sorry' under their breath, the crowd dispersed. Dipper turned and helped Melissa up. "Thanks, Dip!" She beamed. Dipper wiped his bloody nose, only succeeding in smearing it. "No problem. Can't let my big sister's best friend get hurt, now can I?" They grinned at each other, Melissa with her tousled hair and crooked grin, and Dipper with his bloody nose and shy smile until the blond cleared his throat.

"Not that this isn't _adorable,_ but I think you guys owe me some introductions."

He said with a small smirk. "Include your grade, while you're at it."

Melissa glared, Dipper stared, and the blond smirked.

"I'm Melissa, I'm in 8th grade! This pathetic snot rag," She jerked a thumb at Dipper who was maybe-sort-of-hiding behind her. "Is Dipper. He's also in 8th grade. Now, who are you?"

She crossed her arms and stared obstinately at the blond. He just laughed.

"I'm Lucas, and I'm a freshman. Nice to meet you, Melissa, DIpper."

Melissa opened her mouth with some scathing reply no doubt on the tip of her tongue, but Dipper stepped up, placing a soothing hand on her arm. "It's nice to meet you too, Lucas. Thank you for helping us."

"Seems you have better manners than your friend, eh Dipper?" Lucas' smile faded. "I'm sorry to hear about your sister, though. Real shame."

Melissa went rigid next to him, but didn't say anything which was Dipper's cue to speak up for once. He suppressed a sigh.

"How do you know my sister?" He asked, hesitantly.

"She was in my art class. She has real talent, you know?"

Dipper nodded, and Melissa relaxed.

That's how Dipper cemented his friendship with Melissa, and how they started one with Lucas. After exchanging phone numbers, and social media names, they parted ways.

Dipper and Melissa had taken to visiting Mabel together. When she heard about Lucas, she insisted on meeting him. Melissa and Dipper were unsure how to approach Lucas with this, so they decided that Mel would just be upfront in that special, blunt way of hers. And blunt she was. She hunted him down because this was a 'face-to-face' question.

"Will you come with Dipper and I to the hospital tomorrow after school?" He had stared uncomprehendingly at Melissa for a few minutes before Dipper had intervened. "Mabel wants to meet you. We," he gestured at Melissa, "Were wondering if you would come with us tomorrow."

Lucas blinked, then smiled. "Yeah. How far is it?" Dipper gave him a relieved smile. "Oh, pretty far, I guess. We usually ride the bus." Lucas was shaking his head, frowning. "My dad doesn't let me use public transport. Just tell me where to go, and I'll meet you. I like walking, anyway."

Dipper and Melissa shared a glance, before nodding in unison. They explained to Mabel that they were going to walk instead of ride the bus tomorrow, so they would be later than usual. When she asked why, Dipper told her it was a surprise. Her face lit up.

Lucas' face reflected Mabel's when they told him they were going to walk with him. He was fit, on the track team, but he didn't mind how slow Melissa and Dipper walked. It was nice.

Mabel was knitting when they arrived. She had two bracelets done already, sitting next to her on the hospital bed. She hadn't started the new one yet, but was obviously planning. Dipper called it plotting, but whatever. She looked up as soon as they stepped into the room. Before Lucas, Dipper or Melissa could even open their mouths, Mabel launched into a fast-paced introduction.

"Hi! I'm Mabel. You must be Lucas. What's your favorite color?" Lucas raised an eyebrow.

"Um, gray?" He said, but it was more like a question. "Great!" Mabel responded enthusiastically, grabbing yarn and beginning her project with a crazed fervor. She talked the whole time, and Lucas, although awkward at first, got into the full swing of things. By the time the bracelet was done, Lucas realized it was 5:17 and his dad was expecting him home.

As they were leaving, Lucas said softly, 'We need to find the money to fix this." Turning to his two friends, he fixed them with a serious stare. "She doesn't belong in a hospital bed." Melissa and Dipper smiled. "Yeah but how?" Dipper asked, staring intently at Lucas. Lucas, in turn, lifted his left wrist. On it was the gray bracelet Mabel had made for him.

"We sell these."

* * *

 **Just an idea that's been bouncing around in my head. Warning, lots of OC's. Sorry bout that. :)**

 **To those of you reading A Case of Coincidence, I won't be able to update this week. I'll be out of town, but next week you'll get a double update. I had to fire up my mom's old computer to post this. I wrote it all out by hand before. I want you all to know I don't have a beta, so all my writing is self-edited. If you see anything, please tell me about it!**

 **~Rainy**


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